Shaykh Tusi (Persian: شیخ طوسی‎), full name Abu Jafar Muhammad Ibn Hassan Tusi (Persian: ابوجعفر محمد بن حسن طوسی‎), known as Shaykh al-Taʾifah (Arabic: شيخ الطائفة‎) was a prominent Persian[1] scholar of the Twelver school of Shia Islam. He became known as “sheikh of the sect (shaikh al-ta’ifah),” authored two of the four main Shi’i books of hadith, Tahdhib al-Ahkam and al-Istibsar, and is believed to have founded the Hawza.[2] He also counts as the founder of shia jurisprudence.[3]

Life

He was born in Tus in Iran in 995 AD/385. In 1018 AD/408 A.H.[4] His life was along with the government of Buyid dynasty.[5] He was born according to praying of twelfth imam of shia namely Mahdi[6] He learned significant level of Islamic sciences of that period in Tus[7] in Khorasan.[8]he left Tus to study in Baghdad. In 1055 AD/447 A.H Tughril-bek entered Baghdad. there he could participate in the courses of Shykh Al-Mufid as paramount teacher.[7] Also he wrote some of his books when he was between twenty and thirty. When he was forty two he participated in the class of his master namely Shaykh Murtaza.[9] At this time many Muslim scholars in Baghdad, both Sunni and Shiʿite were killed. The house of al-Shaikh al-Tusi was burnt down, as were his books and the works he had written in Baghdad, together with important libraries of Shi’ite books. Al-Tusi went to al-Najaf after the fall of Baghdad. He died at Najaf on the 22nd of Muharram in the year 460 A.H/2 December 1067.

Influence

Tusi had important role in formation and revival of Shia jurisprudence and law. since that his time was coincidence with the burning of the great books and library,[10] nearly he must to revive the hadith and jurisprudence in a way.[11] He innovated in the sphere of jurisprudence. He tried to defend the application of jurisprudence in respect of religious laws. One of his accomplishments was that he could be successful in propagation and coherence of methodologies of argumentation and inference. His dominance was unrivaled until long Time. Nearly all jurisprudents only were affected by shaykh Tusi’s opinions. The influence of shaykh Tusi continued until the emergence of Ibn Idris Hilli who criticized some views od shaykh Tusi.[12] Also Tusi Had given to shaykh Mufid a definite formulation in Ijtihad.[13] In fact three people including Shaykh Tusi had important role in leadership of Shia’s school of law.[14]Some works of Tusi shows that he was influenced by precedent jurists like Sallar Deylami.[15]

Usuli School

in confliction between two schools of Akhbari and Usuli, Shaykh Tusi defended of Usuli school and calls akhbari as followers of literate or literalists.[13] Shaykh Tusi believed in principles of jurisprudence as a fundamental knowledge in acquiring the judgments of Islam religion.[16]he wrote in introduction of ‘Al-Iddah’ book as follow: ” thus you may say, it is essential to attach the greatest importance to this branch of knowledge( namely Usul) because the whole of shariah is based on it and the knowledge of the any aspect thereof is not complete without mastering the principles.[17] Also he tries to compare different schools of law in Islam with each other and show there is a little divergence between them and they are near to each other and differences among them is in minor subject not major.[18] Shaykh Tusi, like his Masters, refuted the legal analogy(Qiyyas Fiqhi) in his manual of usul Fiqh.[19]

Importance of reason

His emphasis was on the rational dimension of religion such a way that he know principles like commanding to good and prohibiting of evil as something which is indispensable according to reason.[20] Even shaykh Tusi try to give validity to Consensus(Ijma) according to rational rule of Lutf. according to principle of Lutf, God must provide believers with conditions and situation for doing religious acts and nearing to good.principle of lutf requires the appointment of infallible imam and necessitates that the Imam reveals the truth about any problem on which a wrong agreement may have been reached.[21]

Pioneering

Tusi was leading in different majors of religious sciences such as Ilm-rijal(Biography),traditions(Hadiths) and Fihrist(Catalogue).He also starts important developments in that allow shia clerics to comprehend some of the roles permitted before only for Imam. these roles are to collecting and distributing the religious taxes and organizing the Friday prayers.[22]

Najaf Seminary

According to some scholars, Sheykh Tusi established the Hawzeh of Najaf after migrating from Baghdad.[23]

Works

He wrote nearly over fifty works in different Islamic branch of knowledge such as philosophy, hadith,theology, biography,historiography,exegesis and tradition.[24] Of the four authoritative resources of the Shiites, two are written by Shaykh Tusi. These two basic reference books are: Tahdhib al-Ahkam and Al-Istibsar. Both of these pertain to Hadiths of Islamic Jurisprudential decrees and injunctions.

This book is one of the first books in the sphere of comparative jurisprudence written by Tusi. He tries to collect all opinions of law schools of Islam in this book. this book also shows that there is great accordance between Shia school of law and other schools.the differences exist merely in minor problem namely furu.[18] This book, as a compendium, not only rendered those opinions which Shia hold uniquely but also the conflicting Sunni opinions in much greater detail.[30]